This invention relates to electric toasters, and more particularly to an electric toaster with an improved food support and safety mechanism for arresting operation of the toaster in the event of a jammed food item.
Household toasters commonly have a control chamber separated from a toasting chamber by a vertical end wall. A bread carriage plate is slidably received on a support post in the control chamber and carries a pair of bread lifters that extend into and at least partially through the toasting chamber between heating elements located in the toasting chamber. The carriage plate, and accordingly the bread lifters, are vertically movable between a raised position for permitting the bread or other food items to be placed on or removed from the bread lifters and a lowered position for holding the bread or other food items in a toasting position.
Some toasters have only one bread lifter and some have more than two bread lifters. For ease of discussion, this invention is disclosed for use in a toaster configuration which has two bread lifters, such presently being the most common configuration. However, as will become apparent, aspects of this invention described below can be used in other toaster configurations.
In many toasters, the bread lifters are connected to a vertically movable support carriage. A coil spring biases the support carriage upwardly so that the bread lifters are normally in an upper, non-toasting position. The support carriage can be lowered to the toasting position by manipulation of a control lever accessible from outside the toaster housing. During a toasting cycle, a latch mechanism holds the support carriage and thus the bread lifters in a lowered, toasting position. User-adjustable electric means controls the duration of the toasting cycle during which the bread lifters are latched in the toasting position in order to toast the food items to a desired color.
Some toasters include a lost-motion safety device wherein the bread is lowered by the support carriage onto holding tabs that extend from a sheet metal base of the toaster. The tabs are formed by stamping U-shaped slots in the sheet metal base then bending the tabs to form cantilevered supports. Once the bread is supported on the holding tabs, the support carriage can continue to descend until locked or latched in a toasting position, whereupon heating elements are energized to toast the bread. Should the bread become lodged at the end of a heating cycle, the support carriage will move upward to de-energize the heating elements before it contacts the bread. In this manner, the toasting cycle is stopped before the bread reaches an unpleasant state, and any danger associated with manually removing the bread from the toaster is minimized.
The prior art method of forming the holding tabs in the base of the toaster for the lost-motion safety device is a time-consuming task that requires special machinery and/or extra processing steps, resulting in a higher cost per toaster unit. In order to maintain a competitive edge in the toaster industry, there is a continuous need to improve toaster mechanisms and their method of manufacture to realize further cost savings while maintaining safety standards. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide holding tabs or the like in a lost-motion safety device for a toaster that reduces manufacturing costs.
According to one aspect of the invention, an electric toaster comprises a chassis having at least one toasting compartment. At least one electric heater is located in the compartment, and a cage is positioned in the compartment adjacent the heater. The cage includes lateral sides with a gap therebetween for receiving a food item and stationary supports extending into the gap from the lateral sides for supporting the food item during a toasting operation. The electric toaster also includes a movable support that is positioned in the toasting compartment for movement between an upper rest position and a lower toasting position below the stationary supports. The movable support is adapted to support the food item above the stationary support and to transfer support of the food item to the stationary support when the movable support travels below the stationary supports. At least one switch is positioned for activation by downward movement of the movable support from the stationary supports toward the lower toasting position to energize the at least one electric heater. The at least one switch is deactivated upon upward movement of the movable support from the lower toasting position toward the stationary supports to deenergize the at least one electric heater before reengagement of the movable support with the food item.